Anna Hartz
Learning a new language often feels like a practical skill. It helps you travel. It helps you connect with people.
Many people also pick up languages simply because they enjoy the challenge. What we rarely think about is how this effort might shape our lives decades later. A new European study suggests that the effort we put into switching between words and grammar might do far more for our brains than we realize.
Cognitive Aging
Researchers have found that people who speak more than one language tend to age more slowly on a cognitive level, according to Videnskab. The study was published in Nature Aging and has caught the interest of scientists who study aging and brain health.
Morten Scheibye-Knudsen from the University of Copenhagen says the findings show that learning and using several languages can strengthen the brain’s resilience. He believes it offers a simple way to support healthy aging. He also explains that the effect becomes stronger with each additional language a person learns and that it remains even when differences in income, health, and lifestyle are considered.
The research team analyzed data from more than 86,000 people across 27 European countries. Their goal was to see whether language use might act as a protective factor against faster-than-expected aging. The results suggested that being able to use two languages cuts the chance of accelerated aging in half.
Biobehavioral Age Clock
Martin Lauritzen, a professor of aging at the University of Copenhagen, calls the findings encouraging. He says people with stronger cognitive abilities have a better reserve to draw on as they grow older, especially if they later face diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Scientists have long suspected that juggling multiple languages works as a form of mental exercise. Earlier studies have not always agreed, often because they relied on small groups or limited data.
This new research is different. It combines a decade of information and uses a large and varied part of the population. The team also used a model called the “biobehavioral age clock,” which measures whether someone is aging faster or slower than expected based on behavior and health patterns.
Lauritzen says the findings remind him of the famous “Nun Study,” where nuns who lived intellectually active lives kept their cognitive abilities longer. He sees the new study as a continuation of that idea. The more active and stimulated the brain is, the better it can protect itself over time.
Sources: Videnskab
